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(film review) - Candyman

The first trailer for this movie came out in February 2020 and due to world changing events such as the Corona Virus Pandemic, trailers started popping up again around June 2021 and whilst this film have been on the shelf waiting for a release date and eventually a release, I couldn't wait to tuck into this movie.  I saw the original Candy when I was younger and I liked it.  Tony Todd is definitely a house hold name and if you don't know the name, you know the voice. I believe I saw Candyman 2 and no others, if there were any others.  So this movie seemed to be a continuation from the previous movies, a franchise reboot or both and I'm guessing you are wondering if I thought it was worth the wait, well sorta.

Anthony McCoy is a struggling visual artist trying to get his work well recognised and out there.  He lives with his girlfriend Brianna Cartwright an Art Gallery Director and during a get together with Brianna's brother Troy and his partner Grady, troy tells a haunting story of the legend of Helen Lyle.  Captivated by this story, Anthony checks out the area to gather information and visuals but becomes obsessed with Candyman's Legend and people start dying.

First of all, this is not a terrible movie, nor is it a bad one, but i had a few gripes with the storytelling and some of the things that occurred in the movie.  Without going into spoilers, I just feel that certain things would not have transpired the way they had in the movie due to real life elements of people's behaviours.  For example, if I fell over after stubbing my toe whilst wearing flip-flops and my toe was paining me or looking a little weird, I'd go to A&E, you know, or at least my girlfriend/partner or whomever I live with would bang on about me going to seek help.  I also felt that there should have been more media or police interference in the movie for it to be somewhat realistic.  Although a 90's film and dated now, the original Candyman had tension and evoked a lot of fear.  I don't know ANYONE who saw the first movie that would say Candyman in front of a mirror NOW, due to watching the first movie.  Having watched this, I feel you could say it every other word whilst eating an ice-cream in front of a mirror no problems, I just feel the horror element of it all is just not there.

Other than that, Nia DaCosta did a wonderful job directing this movie.  The Music was great, the visuals were even better.  There were a few tracking shots (and you know how I LOVE ME A TRACKING SHOT) in there and generally, the direction in this movie is simply phenomenal because the acting was also great.  I did find some of the comments/dialogue with specific characters were not really universal, so some of the jokes fell a little flat for me and as well as it being a little bit of a slow burn at the beginning, this movie was indeed a good watch although banging you over the head with talks of gentrification.  But the Police Brutality of it all is soo much more relevant than gentrification at this point, so having these things highlighted is great, but just a touch overboard for me.  Expanding the lore on Candyman was also a great touch and going forward if this movie can get a sequel, maybe we can get more into the supernatural of it all, which would be great.  The ending scene was great and I'm hoping this can be expanded on or it will just feel redundant.

Slasher films often make me laugh and this film is no exception. I can't remember if the original made me laugh but the kills in this film were visually creative in places and in others, just great! I do feel the lack of tension in some places do not give some of the kills the depth they deserve, but the you know when someone said Candyman 5 times, people were going to die, you were just sat there wondering how.  This movie was missing the creep element the first film had.  You want to feel creeped out and that if you did say Candyman, you honest feel that is the only time you are going to say it or you would get to a fourth time and then stop.  Like I said earlier, this movie is not terrible and i'm sure a lot of people will like it/love it, I just felt I needed just a little more from the story.  What I will say for Marvel fans out there, Nia is directing The Marvels (Captain Marvel 2) and going by how visually stunning this movie is and the use of camera movement, The Marvels has the potential to be visually great...a lot like Ryan Coogler's Black Panther.




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